Fitz!!

I personally would love to see Haliburton shut down for their role in this war…

Kelven - yeah and jail sentences.

Kelven @ 2

I personally would love to see Haliburton shut down for their role in this war…

I would like to see the chiefs at Haliburton jailed.

Did you expect the ISG to be a panacea? I always thought it was going to be a gentle rapping of the knuckles on El Presidente.

I had the joy of being able to watch Gladiator again today. There’s a moment just near the end where the emporer wants to get a sword from one of his guards, and they won’t give it to him. Up until that point, everyone was terrified of him; at that point, he seemed weak and vulnerable, and they were glad to be rid of him. Bush is weak, but he’s not done yet.

Hopefully, he’ll be reeling once Waxman gets going. Voting was never so satisfying as for Waxman :)

It seems as if they forgot about an issue that had nothing to do with politically triangulating the situation… out of sight, out of mind…

mercenaries.

yuck.

That wikipedia link to the Friedman (unit) was a gas. How people like Friedman get to keep their jobs I don’t know.

When cut and run comes will our troops be able to leave quickly or have to defend 100,000 plus corporate civilians. It’s going to be a very messy exit.

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that the armed unaccountable men rolling around Iraq in armored SUVs are not contractors they are mercernaries.

Eureka Springs,AR @ 9

When cut and run comes will our troops be able to leave quickly or have to defend 100,000 plus corporate civilians. It’s going to be a very messy exit.

Agreed. Our obvious vulnerability is apparently not obvious.

Or this is one more area that the leadership is completely lost in the weeds: ineffectual, uncaring, and unimaginative.

Jane, all you had to do was say that it was an “FU” and they would have gotten it.

Soo…what’s the mechanisim for reporting injury and death to “contractors”? Do these numbers just fall into the blacker bucket?

marksb @ 13

Soo…what’s the mechanisim for reporting injury and death to “contractors”? Do these numbers just fall into the blacker bucket?

and do contractor/mercenaries have to report a murder/injury?

Bush has a plan. A very secret plan. He’ll tell us about in due time. So calm down.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 15

Bush has a plan. A very secret plan. He’ll tell us about in due time. So calm down.

Who?

fiengold hits the nail right on the head when he asks how any report can be taken seriously when the there is not one person on the commision that had the simple military insight to advise against the invasion

the military experts against the campaign abound, even those in the presidnts own administration and it is mind boggling only people that were wrong about everything were chosen to compile the report

perris @ 17

fiengold hits the nail right on the head when he asks how any report can be taken seriously when the there is not one person on the commision that had the simple military insight to advise against the invasion

the military experts against the campaign abound, even those in the presidnts own administration and it is mind boggling only people that were wrong about everything were chosen to compile the report

Yes, indeed. But, it’s important to keep in mind that this report is, in more ways than one, a salvage operation. They aren’t going to look for advice that they don’t want in the first place that doesn’t accomplish that end–salvage what can be salvaged at this point.

Hey, stop worrying about the mercenaries. They have enough of our cash to get out scot free, unless their cash is take and they’re still killed. But that’s free enterprise in the Reagan Thatcher era.

What we need to worry about in the post-collapse era is if we can buy enough vacant living spaces to control the market.

And there was something about oil.

Eureka Springs,AR @ 16

Oklahoma kiddo @ 15

Bush has a plan. A very secret plan. He’ll tell us about in due time. So calm down.

Who?

Any of the ‘little’ people, like me, who are worried.

“Writing at TPM Cafe today, Paul Reickhoff asks the same question, and the subject of private contractors looks to be a problem that the ISG is wholly ignorant of. I mean wholly.”

I don’t think this should be surprising. The last project Lee Hamilton was involved in failed question or even mention how 2 airplanes knocked down 3 skyscrapers in New York.

Thanks for this post Jane. The issue is being deliberately swept under the rug by the ISG, in my opinion. Most of the PMCs have ties to the financial interests represented by the ISG. I think of that group as a panel convened to stabilize the future in Iraq for the business interests only.

The ISG doen’t want to draw attention to the problem so it pretends it doesn’t exist. The group would want the PMCs to have a solid future in Iraq, both in drawing cost plus contracts and having some protection by US forces.

Most of the security/military/intel contractors like Blackwater take the jobs that pay the most to maximize profits. Regardless of previous access to sensitive information, these companies are likely to be most loyal to the current highest bidder. How does that bode for the future of the ME?

Oklahoma kiddo @ 20

Eureka Springs,AR @ 16

Oklahoma kiddo @ 15

Who?

Any of the ‘little’ people, like me, who are worried.

KO is making is ripping on this mockery right now.

Five more Americans (and who knows how many Iraqis) killed in Iraq today.

The responsibility for each of these deaths falls directly on Bush’s shoulders.

He’s postponing his “major speech” on Iraq–to tell us whether he will follow any of the Baker Commission’s recommendations–until after the first of the year.

How many more must die while Nero fiddles?

Jonathan Alter on KO and the delay of bushco’s new, shiny plan.

“It’s 4 years too late…”

Newsweek editor on KO says, “It’s four years too late”–Bush “listening” to experts about Iraq.

Bush 21 percent approval rating on handling Iraq

OK kiddo - whoops, I should have snarked with who’s bush….

Alter: it’s hard to ask anyone to support a policy when it doesn’t exist…

Kelven @ 1

Fitz!!

I am happy that there is a reason for people to be *Fitz*ing again.

Loss of your child. The nightmare scenario.

Listening to Matthews and Edwards at UNC. Edwards had a child die, Matthews talks about a lost child? I don’t know the details.

Gore had a serious incident with his son. Bush grew up with the ghost of his lost sibling, and was arguably emotionally deformed by this loss and his parents’ distance and grief.

People’s lives are shaped by the loss or the immanent loss of someone in their immediate family. I have dedicated my adult post-kid years to helping save the lives of young children.

I work with newborns because my older brother died at age 3 hours of prematurity and atelectasis. I have had 8 miscarriages to produce these 3 lovely children. I know about loss.

Am I trying to address too fine of a problem? Should we instead focus on trying to stop our government from setting into motion the circumstances resulting in the killing of people by the hundreds of thousands in places like Iraq?

I personally experience the loss of small numbers of babies and work from there. I intellectually understand the loss of many more; the loss of hundreds of thousands of people weighs on my conscience. I have worked to make peace with a nation that over the decades was our likely enemy in WWIII.

I feel that I am one war behind. Hope that younger people are motivated to work for peace in the middle east.

“Fours years too late”. Yes. And it’s way too late for the American soldiers who have perished in Iraq. And what did they die for exactly, Mr. President? Vanity, oil? What? Mr. President, you disgust me.

klyde @ 10

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that the armed unaccountable men rolling around Iraq in armored SUVs are not contractors they are mercernaries.

The Pentagon refers to the mercenaries’ employers as “vendors” and the “vendors” refer to their own armed employees as “associates.”

I’m still confused about this - how many “last shots” in a “Friedman Unit”?

montag @
18

perris @ 17

fiengold hits the nail right on the head when he asks how any report can be taken seriously when the there is not one person on the commision that had the simple military insight to advise against the invasion

the military experts against the campaign abound, even those in the presidnts own administration and it is mind boggling only people that were wrong about everything were chosen to compile the report

Yes, indeed. But, it’s important to keep in mind that this report is, in more ways than one, a salvage operation. They aren’t going to look for advice that they don’t want in the first place that doesn’t accomplish that end–salvage what can be salvaged at this point.

The report was not really about policy, it was about politics, so no policy experts were really needed. The whole idea was to provide some political cover, under the guise of “bipartisanship”, for Bush to extrcate himself from this debacle.

And the sorry truth is he is too stupid and/or stubborn to take it.

Matthews comments were idiotic. “My family lost a kid, a young kid” what a jackass!
egregious @ 31

Loss of your child. The nightmare scenario.

Listening to Matthews and Edwards at UNC. Edwards had a child die, Matthews talks about a lost child? I don’t know the details.

Gore had a serious incident with his son. Bush grew up with the ghost of his lost sibling, and was arguably emotionally deformed by this loss and his parents’ distance and grief.

People’s lives are shaped by the loss or the immanent loss of someone in their immediate family. I have dedicated my adult post-kid years to helping save the lives of young children.

I work with newborns because my older brother died at age 3 hours of prematurity and atelectasis. I have had 8 miscarriages to produce these 3 lovely children. I know about loss.

Am I trying to address too fine of a problem? Should we instead focus on trying to stop our government from setting into motion the circumstances resulting in the killing of people by the hundreds of thousands in places like Iraq?

I personally experience the loss of small numbers of babies and work from there. I intellectually understand the loss of many more; the loss of hundreds of thousands of people weighs on my conscience. I have worked to make peace with a nation that over the decades was our likely enemy in WWIII.

I feel that I am one war behind. Hope that younger people are motivated to work for peace in the middle east.

Call me paranoid if you wish. But I am genuinely worried that the Bush people have already set into motion the mechanics which will lead to a world war. WWII did not start in one day. There was a long ramp-up before the guns began to blaze.

egregious @ 31

Loss of your child. The nightmare scenario.

Listening to Matthews and Edwards at UNC. Edwards had a child die, Matthews talks about a lost child? I don’t know the details.

Gore had a serious incident with his son. Bush grew up with the ghost of his lost sibling, and was arguably emotionally deformed by this loss and his parents’ distance and grief.

People’s lives are shaped by the loss or the immanent loss of someone in their immediate family. I have dedicated my adult post-kid years to helping save the lives of young children.

I work with newborns because my older brother died at age 3 hours of prematurity and atelectasis. I have had 8 miscarriages to produce these 3 lovely children. I know about loss.

Am I trying to address too fine of a problem? Should we instead focus on trying to stop our government from setting into motion the circumstances resulting in the killing of people by the hundreds of thousands in places like Iraq?

I personally experience the loss of small numbers of babies and work from there. I intellectually understand the loss of many more; the loss of hundreds of thousands of people weighs on my conscience. I have worked to make peace with a nation that over the decades was our likely enemy in WWIII.

I feel that I am one war behind. Hope that younger people are motivated to work for peace in the middle east.

The Edwards’ 16 year old son was killed in a car accident. I read an interview with Elizabeth Edwards a few years ago where she said the only thing she would do for six months after his death was watch the weather channel.

Eureka Springs,

When cut and run comes will our troops be able to leave quickly or have to defend 100,000 plus corporate civilians. It’s going to be a very messy exit.

On Page 2 of this PDF from 5/06 is a map showing various reconstruction projects in country (why they would advertise soft targets to the ‘evil doers’ is beyond me) but with a little zooming in or out, one can get a sense of just how far flung the 100,000 are and an even sharper picture of how difficult it would be to get them all out - we weren’t too busy in Vietnam with reconstruction - most ‘advisers’ were in Saigon safely in time for the helo ride

PDF Warning (ugh) map is on Page 2
http://www.grd.usace.army.mil/.....s/20060526 Iraq Reconstruction Update.pdf

Here is an interesting development that will have a ripple effect

Judge reinstates wrongful death lawsuit for Iraq contractors

…RALEIGH, North Carolina: A judge ended nearly two years of legal limbo Monday by agreeing that the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of four private contractors killed and mutilated in Iraq could go forward in state court.

Blackwater Security Consulting, the Blackwater USA division that trained and deployed the high-level security guards, had argued that it was an extension of the military and that the case should not be heard in any court, and particularly not a state court.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Don Stephens lifted his long-standing stay on the case Monday after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court denied Blackwater’s requests.

Blackwater attorneys declined to comment on Stephens’ ruling.

In the lawsuit filed in January 2005, attorneys representing the families of the four dead contractors argued Moyock-based Blackwater used cost-saving measures that ultimately led to the deaths of Jerko “Jerry” Zovko, Stephen “Scott” Helvenston, Wesley J.K. Batalona, and Michael R. Teague. The lawsuit said the workers found themselves driving through volatile Fallujah in March 2004 without proper equipment and personnel to defend themselves or the supply convoy they were guarding….

_____________________________________

December 12th, 2006
Lawmakers challenge KBR subcontractor’s use of armed guards

… KBR subcontractors hired armed guards to protect employees in violation of the company’s government contract to provide logistical support to soldiers in Iraq, documents recently obtained by House Democrats show.
In a Dec. 7 letter to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, two lawmakers said they have obtained memos and contracts from ESS Support Services, a KBR subcontractor, showing ESS entered into a security subcontract with Blackwater USA in 2004.
Under the $16.5 billion Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract held by KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, KBR employees and subcontractors are prohibited from carrying weapons without military approval, according to a July 14 letter from Army Secretary Francis Harvey to the House Government Reform Committee.
KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown and Root, has not requested, nor has the military granted, permission to carry weapons, Harvey said.

“If the ESS memo is accurate, it appears that Halliburton entered into a subcontracting arrangement that is expressly prohibited by the contract itself,” the lawmakers wrote. “As a result we have serious concerns about whether it was proper for Halliburton to bill these services to the U.S. taxpayer.”
The legislators — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., incoming chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. — also renewed requests to Rumsfeld for an accounting of dollars paid to Blackwater for the security services. …

Ed*ard Teller @ 33

klyde @ 10

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that the armed unaccountable men rolling around Iraq in armored SUVs are not contractors they are mercernaries.

The Pentagon refers to the mercenaries’ employers as “vendors” and the “vendors” refer to their own armed employees as “associates.”

I’m still confused about this - how many “last shots” in a “Friedman Unit”?

Actually a last shot is not a measure of time. It is what happens in a Friedman unit. As in, “We have one Friedman unit for a last shot.”

Also, I thought a contractor was a guy who builds your house. A civilian who wages war for money is a mercenary. As in the “Hessian mercenaries” employed by King George and so beloved during our own revolution.

Thanks cbl, downloading now.

Matthews asked Elizabeth Edwards if she bites his balls.

Re the mercenaries: If the military starts leaving in serious numbers, don’t you suppose the corporations will start getting their people out?

I enjoyed Paul Reickhoff’s panel at YKos. He described being in the first wave of soldiers coming into Baghdad. He climbed to the top of one of Saddam’s ministry buildings, looked out over the horizon, and said “Where is everyone?” He said that’s when he knew the war plan was seriously flawed.

I can imagine nothing worse than if my only child, my daughter, were to pass before I do. I don’t think I could cope. Thank God my little Princess is in good health.

Oklahoma kiddo, if you’re paranoid I’m sitting on your bench ’cause I agree. WWIII would be a boon for Bush. The world in flames would distract people handily from his crimes, and certainly delay justice.

Morris@40-
Very nice!

“A civilian who wages war for money is a mercenary. As in the “Hessian mercenaries” employed by King George and so beloved during our own revolution”

I was going to say something critical of Bush but I’ll refrain because my remote seems to be working fine.

Everythingseemssoneat @ 42

Matthews asked Elizabeth Edwards if she bites his balls.

I think Matthews is a voyeur. His question was inappropriate.

rumi– thanks for that information.

It’s way past time to take down Halliburton and KBR and all the others– they are responsible for the deaths of their own employees and so are The Dons: Rummy and Cheney and all the profiteers including the Carlyle Group.

All volunteer army– really???

The military deaths are the responsibility of the lying liars that took us to war, including those in Congress who went along just to go along.

I won’t even go to the deaths of the thousands of Iraqis and Afghans…

I think the american public is also ignorant of the number of private contractors and what they do. I do not understand why the press is not reporting about this.

raven at 35 Matthews comments were idiotic. “My family lost a kid, a young kid” what a jackass!

Wo. Pretty cold.

Is this really how you view the loss of a child?

Care to explain?

Oklahoma kiddo- It was interesting to see him dick out completely, the audience didn’t know what to do. When they started hissing he almost said fucking instead of fricking.

I want accountability for those politicians who do not call for a pullout from Iraq. Regardless of party.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 36

Call me paranoid if you wish. But I am genuinely worried that the Bush people have already set into motion the mechanics which will lead to a world war. WWII did not start in one day. There was a long ramp-up before the guns began to blaze.

My other nightmare scenario, and why I engage in politics and blogging instead of taking the time to rest, reflect, start to heal, and wean myself from alcohol.

WWIII is a real possibility. I grew up with it, and it can still happen in our lifetime.

Anna @ 50

I think the american public is also ignorant of the number of private contractors and what they do. I do not understand why the press is not reporting about this.

For the same reason they have not reported nearly anything about this war accurately, especially the run up to it, until now. Why now? Because things are so out of hand that they simply can not be ignored or spun away, no matter how hard the editorial board of the WaPo or Dean Broder try.

egregious @ 51

raven at 35 Matthews comments were idiotic. “My family lost a kid, a young kid” what a jackass!

Wo. Pretty cold.

Is this really how you view the loss of a child?

Care to explain?

I believe kid means young, “young” kid is redundant

Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.

(snip)

But Plugged In, a publication of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, gave the game a “thumbs-up.” The reviewer called it “the kind of game that Mom and Dad can actually play with Junior — and use to raise some interesting questions along the way.”

(italics mine)

m’kay– wonderful “values”.

Wonder what the General would do with this???

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/arti.....MU1KQ1.DTL

Morris Sheppard @ 40

(liquidated for expedience)

…Also, I thought a contractor was a guy who builds your house. A civilian who wages war for money is a mercenary. As in the “Hessian mercenaries” employed by King George and so beloved during our own revolution….

funny, that.

I’m a contractor.

Anna @ 50

I think the american public is also ignorant of the number of private contractors and what they do. I do not understand why the press is not reporting about this.

They are bought and paid for corporate whores.

egregious @ 54

Oklahoma kiddo @ 36

Call me paranoid if you wish. But I am genuinely worried that the Bush people have already set into motion the mechanics which will lead to a world war. WWII did not start in one day. There was a long ramp-up before the guns began to blaze.

My other nightmare scenario, and why I engage in politics and blogging instead of taking the time to rest, reflect, start to heal, and wean myself from alcohol.

WWIII is a real possibility. I grew up with it, and it can still happen in our lifetime.

I am hearing your story. My Cherokee cousin. ;-)

We have so many Friedman Units because the size of the Friedman Unit is very, very small.

Patrick 4/4 @ 61

We have so many Friedman Units because the size of the Friedman Unit is very, very small.

707

Boy, I hate dumping on the ISG report, when if there is any dumping to be done it should all be aimed at Bush still . . .

The reason that the Bush Administration and the traditional foreign policy establishment represented by the ISG don’t get a Friedman Unit is because it is a device which satirizes them. While they think they are the only ones worth listening to, they don’t actually listen to themselves. Some of us out here have and have reacted to stale ideas endlessly recycled and the hamfisted misuse and abuse of language. No wonder they don’t get a Friedman Unit. That would require critical thought and minimal amount of self-awareness.

I noticed the “5000 civilian contractors” nonsense right after the ISG report came out, and commented here about it on one of the threads that day. Kind of makes it hard to know what to do with the rest of the report.

Of course, when they take the administration to task for intentionally screwing with the data, to make the situation appear rosier than it is . . . well, perhaps they know whereof they speak.

The whole issue of contractors is a very murky situation. Some are private security folks, heavily armed, and able to throw their weight around with impunity as they are apparently beyond Iraqi law, the UCMJ, and US civilian law as well. On the other hand, some are ordinary civilian folks, who signed on to drive trucks, build buildings, repair pipelines, etc. Of the stories I’ve heard, some were poor folks drawn by the possibility of big paychecks.

All too often, those who write about contractors put all of them into one or the other group - “they’re all private Rambos” or “they’re all poor little civilians” - when the reality is much more complicated.

The fact that the military is only NOW trying to take a census of these folks is beyond belief. We wrote the contracts, we’ve been cutting the checks for years now, and we don’t know how many folks we have doing what jobs? Add on the cost-plus contracting, subcontracting, and the complete lack of oversight . . .

Inconceivable!

Oh, wait a minute . . .

Jr. insisting on waiting till January to announce specifics of a “plan forward” [gawd I already HATE that term] - isn’t this the ultimate case of “passing the buck?”

All he’s doing is putting off that announcement till he can start blaming incoming Democrats for all the damage he’s already caused.

Ed*ard Teller @ 33

klyde @ 10

I’m still confused about this - how many “last shots” in a “Friedman Unit”?

I bleieve you have it the wrong way round. According to the ISG report, a last shot would be equal to 2 1/2 Friedmans and take us out to the first quarter of 2008.

Joni Mitchell - “Friedman in Paris”

The way I see it, he said
You just cant win it…
Everybody’s in it for their own gain
You can’t please em all
There’s always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There’s a lot of people asking for my time
They’re trying to get ahead
They’re trying to be a good friend of mine

I was a Friedman in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one’s future to decide
You know I’d go back there tomorrow
But for the work I’ve taken on…

Hugh @ 66

Ed*ard Teller @ 33

klyde @ 10

I bleieve you have it the wrong way round. According to the ISG report, a last shot would be equal to 2 1/2 Friedmans and take us out to the first quarter of 2008.

A Friedman Unit’s last shot is about 20 minutes after last call.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 60

egregious @ 54

Oklahoma kiddo @ 36

My other nightmare scenario, and why I engage in politics and blogging instead of taking the time to rest, reflect, start to heal, and wean myself from alcohol.

WWIII is a real possibility. I grew up with it, and it can still happen in our lifetime.

I am hearing your story. My Cherokee cousin. ;-)

(((Ok Kiddo))) We know about military and humanitarian disasters, with resulting consequences lasting thru the centuries, yes?

The United States, while it lasts, can learn from us.

punaise @ 67

Joni Mitchell - “Friedman in Paris”

The way I see it, he said
You just cant win it…
Everybody’s in it for their own gain
You can’t please em all
There’s always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There’s a lot of people asking for my time
They’re trying to get ahead
They’re trying to be a good friend of mine

I was a Friedman in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one’s future to decide
You know I’d go back there tomorrow
But for the work I’ve taken on…

…troubled child.

OT-

Ciro now at 53% in early returns

The Middle East Children’s Alliance presents

ROBERT FISK
Iraq and Lebanon: Pointing the Finger of Guilt

Thursday, December 14, 2006, 7pm
First Presbyterian Church, 2619 Broadway in Oakland
Tickets: $20, no one turned away for lack of funds

SPECIAL RECEPTION with Robert Fisk
Thursday, December 14, 2006, 9pm
Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street in Oakland

Lucky punaise– oh, how I wish I could attend.

We watched Lehrer - twice - tonight, just to try to decipher what transpired among ‘experts’ being asked to re-assemble and reassess, at a round-table discussion, earlier opinions they’d expressed about the Iraq situation.

Interesting and disturbing in and of itself.

MORE-SO NOW(!) because I don’t remember any talk about the role of, much less the lasting influence of the activities of contractors/mercenaries in that awful mix.

Even ignoring the mercenary factor, I have yet to hear anyone propose a workable solution to the problems the Bush administration has stirred up.

WHEN will this administration ever summon the courage and honesty to admit there IS no reasonable exit from the mess they have caused?! And WHERE is Cheney???!

When will impeachment proceedings start…
If we don’t have grounds now, maybe we could borrow a blue dress…?!
WHAT.DOES.IT.TAKE?!

Thank you Jane for keeping this subject alive.

new labor thread upstairs

I’m going to toss another name into the mix since these other issues are getting traction. In regard to the major contractors for reconstruction…Halliburton/KBR…Bechtel..and others, the only oversight for reconstruction, IG Stuart Bowen(?) discovered billions officially missing.

There was a man who was in in charge of soliciting businesses/contracts for investment in the Iraq reconstruction. He was, from what I could find, a dedicated, intelligent, official who took his job seriously in protecting American citizens’ national economic laws in foreign policies. His wife is/was an SEC official that was working on some of back-dated options cases, it appeared. I have no reason to believe either one of them did anything wrong. The untimely death and manner of Wm Lash III and his son Will, have always been as troubling as they were tragic.

David Duke hanging out with the president of Iran to deny the Holocast happened.

What a pair.

It’s Pentagon-talk to refer to “private contractors.”

The precise, accurate term is “mercenaries.”

Mathematically I prefer the term “Friedman’s Constant” ;)

via atrios:

As Henley writes:

The pattern has always been:

1. Declare that we must stay in Iraq to prevent some Bad Thing from happening.

2. Bad Thing happens anyway.

3. Declare that we must stay in Iraq to prevent some Worse Thing from happening.

4. Worse Thing happens anyway.

5. Reiterate sequence.

At no point does the “Sensible Center” consider that the previous failures implicate our ability to fulfill the new mission, which is always paradoxically grander in scale while being a retreat from previous ambitions.

Henry Bonilla - Incumbent REP 14,419 46.05% 24,077 42.75%
Ciro D. Rodriguez DEM 16,896 53.95% 32,243 57.25%
————— —————
Total Votes Cast 31,315 56,320
Precincts Reported 180 of 267 Precincts 67.42%
——————————————–

OT..AP calls it for Ciro

yesssssss thanks Steve.

Nice post - I was baffled about this very same mistake myself yesterday. How does the profiteering escape the news cycle so often?

I agree-one of the most grave threats to our checks and balances is a privitized military, accountable only to a private unregulated corporation.

Eureka Springs,AR @
84

yesssssss thanks Steve.

Woohoo! And I helped!

If it takes 5,000 troops to avenge the deaths of 4 mercs, how many are needed for 100,000?

Seems like a good first step in irazization would be to let the Iraqi government start paying the mercs.

The contractor issue is part and parcel with the bust-out of the US economy Jane mentioned in passing a few weeks ago. The war economy is the only thing keeping the books cooked.

It is important to note that the 100,000 figure does NOT include subcontractors.

So it is more than 100,000.

HotFlash @
87

Eureka Springs,AR @
84

yesssssss thanks Steve.

Woohoo! And I helped!

major kudos to HotFlash!!